Joan Alker

Much of the gains in children's coverage that came about as a result of Affordable Care Act have now been reversed.

With an improving economy and a very low unemployment rate, the fact that our nation is going backwards on children's health coverage is very troubling, without serious efforts to get back on track, the decline in coverage is likely to continue in 2018 and may in fact get worse for America's children.

Whatâ€™s especially frustrating is that thereâ€™s no disagreement on the policy, itâ€™s become a bargaining chip.

The politics of whatâ€™s happening now with respect to CHIP have nothing to do with CHIP. The right thing to do would be to take CHIP out of this political fight and pass it by itself.

The lower a familyâ€™s income, the greater the challenge associated with paying a premium for a childâ€™s coverage.